Sunday, December 10, 2017

Holy Shit! Is it Sunday again?

Well, I just renewed the hosting plan with IX Webhosting for another 12 months. I was kind of hoping to set up a server and host everything from home, but there’s been an intermittent problem with my home internet connection, so that’s probably not the best idea at this time. Also, I don’t trust “Spectrum” and would like to preserve the option to cancel them for being a such a shitty ISP.

Speaking of internet

All this could be moot next week as the FCC intends to kill net neutrality on Thursday. While I’m pretty sure you’ll still be able to get to Facebook and Instagram, I’m a bit leery as to the shape the internet will take by this time next year.

This may even be the end of Flush Twice. Once ISP’s get to pick and choose which websites you get to access, it’s highly unlikely that anyone is going to go searching for that plan with “Unlimited access to FlushTwice.com!” When the number of visitors drops to nil, there’s really no reason for me to continue the site, and no reason for me to pay for a webhost or registrar.

Of course you may be thinking, “Well, we didn’t even have net neutrality before 2014, what makes you think killing net neutrality will be any different now?”

The difference is the reason net neutrality was instituted in the first place. ISP’s and other network owners didn’t have practical tools to do the deep packet inspection across the entire internet as they do now. They had “dumb pipes” as it were, and once the realized they could use new technology to bring forth a really fucked up dystopia, people from all walks of life stepped in and demanded the net be covered under the FCC’s Title II.

And while that slowed down those tax-pocketing telecoms a little, we’re soon going to see just how infuriating ISP’s can be.

Of course the way I see it, if the FCC doesn’t want to regulate things anymore, then maybe it’s time to dissolve the agency. And while we’re in the spirit of deregulating, how about removing the regulatory capture that prevents upstart internet providers from bringing new services to communities?

I’m just saying that if this administration is such a champion of free markets and competition, how about they open the internet to some actual fucking competition?

Pax,

-f2x